This blog has been set up to further the cause of compassion for Asylum Seekers.
We will post letters that have been sent to politicians, building up the pressure to provide compassionate support to all refugees in Australia and anywhere where people have been sent by the Australian Government.
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25.12.17

Response to Tanya Plibersek letter 26 December 2017

From: Mike

Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2017 3:50 PM

To: Tanya Plibersek MP

Subject: Offshore detention

Dear Ms Plibersek,

Many thanks for your
detailed response of 22nd December to my letter of 13th August, sent to
Shayne Neumann and copied to you. I very much appreciate the time and trouble
that you have taken to address the issues that I raised and to set out the
Labor Party’s position. I do accept, for the most part, the criticisms
that you make of the Turnbull government’s utter failure to deal adequately
with the appalling situation for asylum seekers and refugees languishing in
offshore detention. But we need to address the problem of the elephant in the
room. The Labor party went to the last election promising the Australian people
that there was no difference between the Labor party and the Coalition in
relation to the key pillars of asylum policy, namely: turning back the boats,
the maintenance of offshore detention camps, and the Rudd-era policy of
preventing people arriving by boat from ever settling in Australia. In these
crucially important areas, the Labor party’s policy stance has not changed. It
seems somewhat disingenuous to me for the Labor party to state that the
detention camps were never regarded as being indefinite. Apart from the
government’s incredibly stupid refusal to take up the NZ government’s offer to
resettle 150 refugees annually, the Coalition tells the same story, and Dutton
wants us to believe that he is trying to get people off Manus and Nauru as
quickly as possible. In the meantime, many hundreds of asylum seekers and
refugees continue to suffer both physically and mentally whilst politicians
essentially look the other way.

In the present
terrible circumstances, the Labor party should bite the bullet, decide that
enough is enough and take the political risk of declaring that all
detainees in offshore detention should be brought to Australia without
delay for their safety and well-being. This would allow an orderly progression
to appropriate third countries, which would include the US and NZ, but would
exclude Third World countries such as Cambodia. Those wishing to remain in
Australia, where a number of them have family connections, should be allowed to
do so.